USRE28081E - Electronic credit carrd acceptor - Google Patents

ELECTRONIC CREDIT CARRD ACCEPTOH Original Filed July 23, 1965 4 Sheets-

Sheet

1 I46 1 F lg. 2 N H /50 2 I [52 I48 154 I70 H if Preset l/end Reject E i Clock i 0 1L Trans/111'? Ready Sync Read-aw Fig. 4 F /'g. 4 a

INDICATOR CIRCUIT CODED I 1

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124 BY Attorney; 24 I22 COMPUTER RECORDER 4 July 23, 1974 Original Filed July 23, 1965 Fig. 3

ELECTRONIC CREDIT CAR'RD ACCEPTOH 4 Sheets-

Sheet

2 Jerry E. Traw'o/i ml 'FN'I'OR July 23, 197 J. E. TRAVIOLI ELECTRONIC CREDIT CAR'RD ACCEPTOR Original Filed July 23, 1965 4 Sheets-

Sheet

5 Fig. 5

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken substantially through a plane indicated by

section line

88 in FIG. 5.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, and initially to FIG. 3, it will be observed that the credit card acceptor is generally denoted by

reference numeral

10 and includes a housing enclosure generally referred to by

reference numeral

12 adapted to be mounted at any suitable location by means of a

front mounting frame

14, to which the housing enclosure is connected. The front mounting frame defines an

opening

16 within which a card receiving

tray member

18 is exposed. Also mounted by the housing enclosure and projecting through the

front mounting frame

14, is a credit indicator including a pair of indicating

signal lamps

20 and 22 respectively illuminated to either register acceptance or the rejection of the credit of a person bearing the credit card being checked through the credit card acceptor.

The credit cards handled by the device of the present invention would contain information including a customers account number such as the customer's social security number and the date of issue of the credit card. In addition to the account number, authentication coding and card type coding could be carried by the card in the forming of binary bits. Also, the card may contain a check number so that the reading of the card information could be verified. The computer with which the device is associated may therefore be operative to signal the acceptor if the card number is not verified in order to retransmit the information to the computer. The coded information on the credit card would be established by the discreet punching the holes through which radiation may pass. Referring therefore to FIG. 4, it will be observed that one form of credit card generally referred to by

reference numeral

24 includes a

thin center layer

26 of material such as a cellophane which is transparent to light or radiation in the visible spectrum but opaque to infra red radiation. Accordingly, infra red radiation as indicated by the

arrows

28 will pass only through the

holes

30 punched in the center layer. The

center layer

26 would also be sandwiched between relatively rigid

outer layers

32 and 34 which are translucent so that light such as indicated by the

arrows

36 may pass through all areas of the card. Accordingly, when the credit card is subjected to radiation from an infra red source, it will pass through the credit card in accordance with a coded pattern determined by a combination of

holes

30 between the

outer layers

32 and 34. Therefore, altering of the coded information on a credit card will be made difficult, because of the concealment of the coded

holes

30 and the infra red

opaque layer

26 between the

outer layers

32 and 34. Alternatively, a modified form of

credit card

38 could be made as shown in FIG. 4a wherein the

center layers

40 is formed by a film of paint or ink opaque to

visible radiation

36 yet transparent to infra

red radiation

28. Another film of paint or

ink

41 opaque to infra red radiation is provided with

holes

46 constituting the coded information. Both films coat the rigid

outer layers

42 and 44 which are translucent so that only the infra red radiation may pass through the card where the

holes

46 are located. Instead of the

film

41 with

holes

46 therein, dots opaque to infrared radiation could be printed on the card at appropriate locations.

Referring now to FIGS. 5, 7 and 8, it will be observed that the

housing enclosure

12 includes a pair of parallel spaced

side walls

48 on which a pair of channel tracks 50 are mounted below an

elongated slot

52. The

tray member

18 includes a

top portion

54 which extends laterally through the

slots

52 terminating in a pair of downwardly depending

side portions

56.

Guide rollers

58 are rotatably mounted on the

side portions

56 and are received within the channel tracks 50 in order to slidingly guide movement of the tray member rearwardly from the card receiving position shown in FIG. 5. The

top portion

54 of the tray member includes therefore, a recessed

opening

60 within which a credit card is received so that it may be displaced from the card receiving position rearwardly by manually pushing against the forward downwardly depending

portion

62 of the tray member.

Connected to the downwardly and rearwardly sloping

wall

64 within the

housing enclosure

12, is a rearwardly extending

flash housing

66 having a

front closing wall

68. Mounted within the flash housing and supported between the

side walls

48, is a

flash lamp device

70 constituting a stationary source of radiation adapted to be ignited upon actuation of a rear

micro switch

72 adapted to be connected to a source of energizing voltage. A

switch actuating element

74 is therefore connected to the

tray member

18 so that when it is manually displaced from the forward card receiving position shown in FIG. to the card reading position shown in FIG. 6, the

rear switch

72 will be actuated in order to ignite the

flash lamp device

70. When ignited, the infra red radiation emitted from the

lamp device

70 will pass through the infra

red filter

76 forming the bottom wall of the

flash housing

66. Therefore, in the card reading position of the

tray member

12, the recessed

opening

60 within which the credit card is carried, will be positioned below the flash housing. Positioned below the

top portion

54 of the tray member is a circuit

board mounting track

78 which extends rearwardly from the

partition

80 secured to the

bottom wall

82 of the housing enclosure. The circuit

board mounting track

78 is adapted to mount a

circuit board

84 as shown by dotted lines in FIGS. 5 and 6 on which photodetecting elements are mounted for exposure to the infra red radiation passes through the credit card being read. All of the coded information carried on the credit card is therefore simultaneously read into the device while the

tray member

18 is held stationary in its card reading position.

The tray member is displaced from its forward card receiving position against the bias of a pair of

spring elements

86 having opposite ends respectively anchored to anchoring

brackets

88 secured to the

front frame member

14 as shown in FIG. 5 and to the

rear anchor elements

90 secured to the

side walls

56 of the tray member as shown in FIG. 7. Also interconnecting the

side portions

56 of the tray below the

bottom wall

82 is a

transverse rod

92 to which the forward end of a

guide rod

94 is connected. A

guide piston

96 is connected to the rear end of the

rod

94 and is guidingly received within a guiding

cylinder

98 secured to the

bottom Wall

82. Also associated with the

transverse rod

92, is a releasable latch mechanism generally referred to by

reference numeral

100. As more clearly seen in FIG. 9, the releasable latch mechanism includes a pivotal mounting

member

102 secured to the

bottom wall

82 on which a

latch element

104 is pivotally mounted. The forward end of the latch element includes a

hook portion

106 adapted to engage the

transverse rod

92 in order to hold the tray member in its card reading position as shown in FIG. 6. The

latch element

104 is also connected by means of the

link element

108 to the

armature member

110 of a

latch releasing solenoid

112. Interconnected between the

solenoid armature

110 and the

latch element

104, is a

spring element

114, operative to yieldably hold the latch element in a downward position when the

solenoid armature

110 is extended as shown in FIG. 5. Accordingly, rearward displacement of the tray member will cause the

transverse rod

92 to cam the latch element upwardly when engaging the

hook portion

106 and thereby be latched in the card reading position. The latch is released by pivotal displacement thereof in the position illustrated in FIG. 9 by retraction of the

armature

110 upon energization of the

solenoid

112. Accordingly, upon release of the latch element, the

springs

86 will return the tray member to the forward card receiving position. The

latch releasing solenoid

112 is therefore energized upon receipt of the command signal from the computer with which the credit card acceptor is associated.

When the

tray member

18 is released for return to the card receiving position, one of the

indicator lamps

20 and 22 is illuminated in order to indicate the credit condition of the person bearing the credit card being checked. Each of the indicator lamps as shown in FIG. 5 includes a

bulb device

116 mounted rearwardly of a

window

118 on which suitable indicia is mounted such as the words ACCEPT and *REJECT" shown in FIG. 3. Also mounted within the housing enclosure rearwardly of the

wall

64, are a plurality of circuit

board mounting tracks

120 adapted to receive printed circuit boards which mount the various electronic components associated with the credit card acceptor, for handling the coded information.

From the foregoing description, it will be appreciated that a plurality of credit

card acceptor devices

10 could be associated with a credit checking computer so that the credt conditions of persons bearing credit cards may be checked against a blacklist from a plurality of different stations by means of a real time computer. Each credit card acceptor will therefore be associated with a

computer

122 as diagrammatically shown in FIG. 1 which could also have a

recorder

124 to provide a record of the credit checking operations. The information fed to the computer for checking purposes, is received from the

readout circuit

126 associated with the credit card acceptor through a read-out

line

128 after the computer has signalled the read-out circuit through transmit

line

130 that it is ready to receive the information stored within the read-out circuit. After the computer has completed its credit checking operation, an output signal is fed to the readout circuit and to the

indicator component

116. Information is read into the read-

out circuit

126 from a

credit card

24 for example, the read-out circuit also being preset by sales information from an

information presetting component

132 so as to limit operation of the read-

out circuit

126 to information for which the

computer

122 is programmed. Thus, when the credit card is displaced by the

tray member

18 to the stationary card reading position, the information will be read into the read-out circuit by closing of the

rear switch

72 connecting the

flash lamp device

70 to a source of

voltage

133 and setting a

timing circuit

198 as diagrammatically shown in FIG. 10. The flash device operates for a predetermined interval after it is triggered. If the computer produces an accept signal at the completion of one operational cycle, the

logic component

135 closes a

vend switch

136 and completes an energizing circuit through

line

137 for the

latch releasing solenoid

112 and for

lamp

20 through

line

139. The card carrying

tray member

18 may then return to the receiving position while the accept

lamp

20 is illuminated in order to register the output of the computer. On the other hand, should the output of the computer be indicative of a bad credit condition in connection with sales information for which the computer is programmed, a

reject switch

138 may close in order to complete an energizing circuit through the

latch releasing solenoid

112 and illuminating the

reject lamp

22. If the credit card is not authentic, the computer may request a re-check by resetting the

logic component

135 causing the

flash lamp

70 to re-ignite and re-transmit the coded information on the credit card to the computer during a predetermined delay period. At the end of the delay period, the

component

198 completes a circuit for the

latch releasing solenoid

112 to effect return of the card carrying tray member to the forward receiving position. Thus, operation of the device will be restricted to only authentic credit cards.

Referring now to FIG. 2, one example of a read-out circuit is shown containing 15 signal storing flip-flops or

bistable multivibrators

140. A first group of signal storing flip-

flops

140 have their condition setting terminals connected by

conductors

142 to the output elements of a plurality of phototransistor types of

detectors

144. The other group of signal storing flip-flops have their condition setting terminals connected by

diodes

146 to an

input amplifier

148 through which the read-out circuit is preset by the sales information for which the computer is to be programmed. The reset terminals of all of the signal storing flip-

flops

140 are connected to a

reset line

150 so that they may be simultaneously reset to a condition for re-transmittal of information from either another credit card or the same card if not authenticated. The

reset line

150 is connected to one of the outputs of a

monostable multivibrator

152 switched to its unstable state for producing a reset signal in

line

150 when triggered by either an accept or a reject signal supplied through the

OR gate

154 from the computer.

Associated with each of the signal storing flip-

flops

140, is an AND

gate

156 having one input terminal thereof connected by a

conductor

158 to one of the outputs of its associated flip-

flops

140. Accordingly, when infra red radiation is sensed by any of the

photo transistors

144, a signal voltage will be supplied to an AND

gate

156 in order to satisfy one-half of its threshold voltage. Similarly, any of the flip-flops in the second group set by sales information signals through the

diodes

146, will satisfy one-half of the threshold voltage requirement of its associated AND

gate

156. When the threshold voltage of any of the input AND

gates

156 is satisfied, a signal pulse will be fed from its

output

160 to the computer through the read-out

line

128 connected to all of the outputs of the AND

gates

156.

It will be apparent, that the signal storing flip-

flops

140 and the AND

gates

156 associated therewith will be operative to simultaneously store signal pulses in response to read-in of the coded information from the credit card. Also, the level of the amplified voltage supplied by the

input amplifier

148 will be passed through selected

diodes

146 to the flip-

flops

140 in the second group in accordance with the sales information. The information so stored, will then be sequentially fed to the computer from the AND

gates

156. However, before the signal pulses are fed to the computer, a ready signal is dispatched to the computer so as to indicate that information is available for transmission. Toward this end, one of the output terminals of each of the flip-

flops

140 are connected by

conductors

164 to a

common voltage line

166 so that dependent upon the number of flip-

fiops

140 that have not been set by the

photo transistors

144 and the voltages supplied through the

diodes

146, a ready signal will be dispatched to the computer through the

ready signal line

168. The

ready signal line

168 is therefore connected to the output of a

monostable multivibrator

170 connected to the

common voltage line

166 through the

gate

172 in order to trigger the monostable to its unstable state dispatching the ready signal through the

ready signal line

168. When the computer is ready to receive the information following receipt of the ready signal, the read-out control section of the circuit is set into operation by a transmit signal fed to the read-out circuit through the transmit

signal line

130.

The transmit signal line is connected to the set terminal of a

bistable multivibrator

176 so that the transmit signal will be passed to one of the input terminals of the clock AND

gate

178. The threshold voltage of the AND

gate

178 is thereby satisfied so as to pass timing pulses from the

clock source

180 to the

binary counter

182 and to the computer through a synchronizing

signal line

184. The

counter

182 consists of four

bistable multivibrators

186 interconnected in such a fashion that each timing pulse will switch a bistable from a 1 state to a 0" state without switching the following bistable while the bistable when switched from a 0 state to the 1 state will switch the following bistable. Accordingly, the reset terminals of the

bistables

186 are interconnected by a

reset line

188 while one of the output terminals of each bistable is connected to the set terminal of a following bistable by a connecting

line

190. Thus, the four

bistable multivibrators

186 of the counter will produce a binary output pattern corresponding to a complete sequence of fifteen timing pulses as depicted in the following chart:

0 0 (l 0 0 (

l

1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0

l

1 0 1 1 0

D O

1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 l l 1 1 1 1 The output of the counter bistables are connected to a

common voltage line

192 so that a different voltage level will be established therein for each timing pulse within the sequence to sequentially satisfy each of the fifteen read-out AND

gates

194. Accordingly, the output of each of the AND

gates

194 is connected to one of the inputs of the input AND

gates

156 in order to read out any signal stored by an associated signal storing flip-

flop

140. Therefore, a signal pulse will be fed through the read-out

line

128 to the computer from any of the flip-flops that are set, these signal pulses being synchronized with corresponding timing pulses fed to the computer through the synchronizing

line

184. At the end of a sequence of counting pulses, the output of the last AND

gate

194 is fed through the

reset line

196 to the reset terminal of the transmit bistable 176. Accordingly, upon completion of a sequence of timing pulses, the bistable 176 closes the AND

gate

178 in order to terminate operation of the timing mechanism and stop feeding of signal pulses to the computer. Information may then be re-trausmitted to the computer if the signal storing flip-

flops

140 are not reset by any reset signals supplied thereto. Therefore, the credit card acceptor is reset for its next operation only if the credit card is accepted or rejected by the computer by dispatch of an accept or a reject signal to the

OR gate

154. If card information read to the computer is not authenticated, the information will be re-transmitted as many times as desired, as determined by the

delay component

198 for example aforementioned, before resetting of the device.

From the foregoing information, the construction operation and utility of the credit card acceptor of the present invention will be apparent. It will therefore be appreciated, that the credit card acceptor device of the present invention operates in a relatively rapid fashion because of the simultaneous read-in of all of the information on the credit card as well as the preset information regarding the sale price or type of purchase, followed by sequential read-out of the information to the computer in the form of signal pulses and corresponding timing pulses. In the example shown in FIG. 2, 15 bits of information are to be handled. In actual practice however, approximately 30 bits may be required so that the

counter

182 must be correspondingly enlarged by two bistables to increase the count to thirty-one. The arrangement of the acceptor device for holding the card carrying tray member in the card reading position and release thereof when either an accept or a reject signal is received from the computer, therefore represent significant features of the invention. Further, the manner in which the coded information is placed on the credit card and read will prevent reproduction of the information by unauthorized persons.

2. The combination of

claim

1 including preset means operatively connected to the reading means for rendering the computer operative only in response to the storage of signal pulses for which the computer is programmed.

3. The combination of

claim

2 wherein said reading means comprises a plurality of signal storing flip-flops, a plurality of input AND gates respectively connecting the signal storing flip-flops to the read-out control means, a plurality of photosensing elements connected to one group of said signal storing flip-flops for setting thereof to one state by said signal pulses, another group of said signal storing flip-flops being connected to the preset means, resetting means connecting the computer to all of said signal storing flip-flops for simultaneous resetting thereof to the other state, and ready signalling means connected to all of said signal storing flip-flops for rendering the computer operative if a predetermined number of flip-flops remain in said other state.

4. In a credit checking apparatus as in

claim

1 wherein said credit card infra red radiation transmitting portions comprise passages defined therein and said flash lamp and said reading means are disposed on opposite sides of said credit card and said reading support.

8. A card reading system utilizing infrared radiation as described in

Claim

7 wherein the card is constructed of interior and exterior layers, the interior layers thereof comprising the information-bearing element and the exterior layers thereof comprising the protective coating.

10. A card reading system utilizing infrared radiation as described in

Claim

7 wherein the protective coating is essentially opaque to visible radiation, but transparent to infrared radiation.

17. A credit checking apparatus adapted to read a credit card and indicate the credit condition pertaining to the card as described in

Claim

1 wherein the credit card is essentially opaque to visible light.

18. A card reading system utilizing infrared radiation as described in

Claim

7 wherein the information-bearing layer comprises a film of ink forming a pattern opaque to infrared radiation.